feudal system the economic, political, and social system in medieval Europe, in which land, worked by serfs who were bound to it, was held by vassals in exchange for military and other services given to overlords.

fewmets the droppings of the prey, used by the hunter to track it.

four long notes of the mort the song played on a hunting horn to announce the death of the prey.

fritillaries butterflies, usually having brownish wings with silver spots on the undersides.

from crupperto poll from the horse's rear to its head.

frumenty a English dish of hulled wheat boiled in milk, sweetened, and flavored with spice.

Gaels the race of Gaelic-speaking Celts, displaced by the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the5th and 6th centuries.

Gilbert White a minister and observer of nature (1720-1793).

given an angel each an "angel" is a medieval coin bearing a figure of the archangel Michael piercing a dragon.

goshawk a large, swift, powerful hawk with short wings and a long, rounded tail.

greaves pieces of armor that cover the shins.

griffin a mythical monster with the body and hind legs of a lion and the head, wings, and claws of an eagle.

guillemot a shorebird.

heather a type of heath-grass with small purple flowers.

Hecate a goddess of the moon, earth, and underground realm of the dead, later regarded as the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft.

helot one of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta.

Hic, Haec, Hoc a joke by Sir Ector, who is pretending to offer the declension (or breakup of verb tenses) for his drunken hiccup.

hostelry inn.

hummocks low, rounded hills.

hurdy-gurdy an early instrument shaped like a lute or violin but played by turning a crank attached to a rosined wheel that causes the strings to vibrate.

jerkins a short, closefitting jacket, often sleeveless, or a vest.

jesses straps for fastening around a falcon's leg, with a ring at one end for attaching a leash.

joie de vivre French for "joy of living."

just been taken up from hacking If a hawk is "in hacking," he is not yet allowed to hunt food for itself.

kestrel a small, reddish-gray European falcon.

kestrel a small, reddish-gray falcon, noted for its ability to hover in the air with its head to the wind.

kittiwake a small gull.

a knight errant a knight who wanders in search of adventure.

libbard a mispronunciation of "leopard."

lignum vitae Latin for "wood of life;" a type of tree used to make various medicines.

Linnaeus Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist.

the Little Bear a constellation, also known as the Little Dipper.

lollards any of the followers of John Wycliffe in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century England.

Lord Baden-Powell British general (1857-1941), founder of Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.

the lower strata the lower layer of the atmosphere.

M.F.H. Master of Foxhounds.

mahatmas in India, those of a class of wise and holy persons held in special regard or reverence.

the Marches the borderlands of England and Scotland.

maritime of or relating to sea navigation.

Master of Trinity Dean of Trinity College, Oxford.

mead an alcoholic liquor made of fermented honey and water.

merlins small European or North American falcons with a striped, brownish-red breast.

Metheglyn a spiced or medicated kind of mead (a liquor made from fermented honey and water).

mews cages for hawks.

mews cages for hawks.

midden a dunghill or refuse heap.

milliard a billion.

Miss Edith Cavell (1865-1915); an English nurse executed by the Germans in World War I.

mnemonic a short phrase or sentence used to jog one's memory, such as Every Good Boy Does Fineto recall the five notes (E, G, B, D, F) on the musical scale.

morris dances old folk dances formerly common in England, especially on May Day, in which fancy costumes were worn, often those associated with characters in the Robin Hood legends.

the mort the note sounded on a hunting horn when the quarry is killed.

mullions slender, vertical dividing bars between the lights of windows, doors, and so on.

mutes here, feces.

nigromant a magician.

nob the head.

Norman pertaining to the victors of the Norman Invasion of England (1066); the British kings from William the Conqueror (ruled 1066-1087) to Stephen (ruled 1135-1154) were Norman kings.

oleander a poisonous evergreen shrub.

Organon the title of Aristotle's (384-322 BC) writings on logic and thought.

Orion a constellation named after a mythical hunter.

palfrey a saddle horse.

panoply a complete suit of armor.

partisan a member of an organized civilian force fighting covertly to drive out occupying enemy troops; here, a term used to describe Robin Wood.

Pax a "kiss of peace" in which the combatant surrenders to his opponent.

peregrine a kind of falcon often used for hawking.

peregrines falcons used for hawking.

phoenix a mythological bird that bursts into flame and then rises from its own ashes.

pike a type of freshwater bony fish.

pismires ants.

pommel the knob on the end of the hilt of some swords and daggers.

port a strong, sweet wine from Portugal.

portcullis a heavy iron grating suspended by chains and lowered between grooves to bar the gateway of a castle or fortified town.

portent a supernatural warning or hint of danger.

Proserpine the mythical daughter of Zeus, abducted by Pluto to be the Queen of Hades, but allowed to return to the earth for part of the year. She is sometimes used as a personification of Spring.

protista kingdom of organisms including bacteria and protozoa.

Punch and Judy English puppets known for slapstick humor.

purgatory a place of limbo, traditionally believed to be located between Heaven and Hell.

purlieus regions.

Quaker a member of the Society of Friends, a Christian movement noted for plain dress and simple living.

quintain an object supported by a crosspiece on a post, used by knights as a target in tilting.

redshanksand dunlin types of European sandpipers.

regulars common soldiers.

the richesses of martens, the bevies of roes, the cetes of badgers and the routs of wolves "richesses," "bevies," "cetes," and "routs" are all names for groups of the animals with which they are listed (as in "a school of fish").

rick a stack of hay.

saracen an Arab or Muslim of the time of the Crusades.

satsuma a variety of Japanese pottery.

Saxons a tribe of Germanic warriors who (with the Angles, another Germanic tribe) invaded parts of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries; here, the word is used by Robin Wood to denote those British people who resisted the Norman invasion of 1066.

sciatica any painful condition in the region of the hip and thigh.

seneschal a steward or major-domo in the household of a medieval noble.